Dataset Information

Risk assessment of aflatoxins in food.

ABSTRACT: EFSA was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the risks to public health related to the presence of aflatoxins in food. The risk assessment was confined to aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), AFB2, AFG1, AFG2 and AFM1. More than 200,000 analytical results on the occurrence of aflatoxins were used in the evaluation. Grains and grain-based products made the largest contribution to the mean chronic dietary exposure to AFB1 in all age classes, while 'liquid milk' and 'fermented milk products' were the main contributors to the AFM1 mean exposure. Aflatoxins are genotoxic and AFB1 can cause hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) in humans. The CONTAM Panel selected a benchmark dose lower confidence limit (BMDL) for a benchmark response of 10% of 0.4 ?g/kg body weight (bw) per day for the incidence of HCC in male rats following AFB1 exposure to be used in a margin of exposure (MOE) approach. The calculation of a BMDL from the human data was not appropriate; instead, the cancer potencies estimated by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives in 2016 were used. For AFM1, a potency factor of 0.1 relative to AFB1 was used. For AFG1, AFB2 and AFG2, the in vivo data are not sufficient to derive potency factors and equal potency to AFB1 was assumed as in previous assessments. MOE values for AFB1 exposure ranged from 5,000 to 29 and for AFM1 from 100,000 to 508. The calculated MOEs are below 10,000 for AFB1 and also for AFM1 where some surveys, particularly for the younger age groups, have an MOE below 10,000. This raises a health concern. The estimated cancer risks in humans following exposure to AFB1 and AFM1 are in-line with the conclusion drawn from the MOEs. The conclusions also apply to the combined exposure to all five aflatoxins.

SUBMITTER: EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM)

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7447885 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Risk assessment of aflatoxins in food.

Schrenk Dieter D Bignami Margherita M Bodin Laurent L Chipman James Kevin JK Del Mazo Jesús J Grasl-Kraupp Bettina B Hogstrand Christer C Hoogenboom Laurentius Ron LR Leblanc Jean-Charles JC Nebbia Carlo Stefano CS Nielsen Elsa E Ntzani Evangelia E Petersen Annette A Sand Salomon S Schwerdtle Tanja T Vleminckx Christiane C Marko Doris D Oswald Isabelle P IP Piersma Aldert A Routledge Michael M Schlatter Josef J Baert Katleen K Gergelova Petra P Wallace Heather H

EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority 20200309 3

EFSA was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the risks to public health related to the presence of aflatoxins in food. The risk assessment was confined to aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), AFB2, AFG1, AFG2 and AFM1. More than 200,000 analytical results on the occurrence of aflatoxins were used in the evaluation. Grains and grain-based products made the largest contribution to the mean chronic dietary exposure to AFB1 in all age classes, while 'liquid milk' and 'fermented milk products' were the main con ...[more]

PMID: 32874256

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Project description:Acetamide (CAS 60-35-5) is detected in common foods including milk, eggs, beef, and roasted coffee beans. Chronic rodent bioassays using high doses (≥1000 mg/kg/day) suggest acetamide is a group 2B possible human carcinogen due to the induction of liver tumors. Weight-of-evidence indicates acetamide is not genotoxic, and therefore a threshold response is expected. We used a toxicogenomics approach in Wistar rats gavaged daily for 7 and 28 days to determine the benchmark dose (BMD), and investigate its mode of action from differential gene expression. Two exposure experiements were carried out in succsession. An initial dose range finding experiment used male Wistar rats gavaged daily for 7 days at 0, 30, 100, 300 and 1000 mg/kd/day. A second experiment used both male and female Wistar rats exposed for 7 and 28 days to 0, 300,500,750,1000 and 1500 mg/kg/day. No treatment related changes in terminal body weight, clinical chemistry, or histopathology were observed at doses of 30, 100, or 300 mkd. At 1000 mkd, the dose reported to elicit carcinogenesis, liver weights decreased 1.3-fold with the presence of single cell necrosis, hepatocyte vacuolization, and increased mitotic activity consistent with a 4.2 fold increase in the cell proliferation index. Accordingly, plasma ALT and AST were increased 2.0- and 2.2-fold, respectively. RNA-Seq analysis identified 1 differentially expressed gene at 300 mkd, and 2,685 at 1000 mkd (|fold-change| ≥ 1.5 and FDR ≤ 0.05). Down-regulated genes were associated with lipid metabolism while up-regulated genes included cell signaling, immune response, and cell cycle functions. Collectively, these results revealed a no-observable adverse effect level (NOAEL) and no-observed-transcriptional effect level (NOTEL) at 300 mkd, warranting further investigation at doses between 300 and 1000 mkd to identify the benchmark dose (BMD). Functional enrichment indicates perturbation of cell cycle and lipid metabolism, though a more refined dose-response evaluation will be needed to demonstrate dose-dependent effects related to the MOA of acetamide. Funding by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1142801).

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Dataset Information

Risk assessment of aflatoxins in food.

Publications

Risk assessment of aflatoxins in food.

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